FIRST-AND-TEN: Patriots' defensive line hoping healthier days ahead in 2014

Injuries took their toll last year as both Vince Wilfork and Tommy Kelly went down in the first half of the season. The Patriots used a first-round draft pick on defensive lineman Dominique Easley, who arrives in New England with an injury-plagued past of his own.

(Eighth in a 10-part series previewing the 2014 Patriots. Next, a look at how the linebacker position shapes up following the departure of Brandon Spikes.)

When it comes to the Patriots’ defensive line, first-round draft pick Dominique Easley arrives as just one of the guys.

When it comes to MRIs and standing on the sidelines, the rookie is a veteran.

Welcome to the club, kid.

While Vince Wilfork (Achilles) and Tommy Kelly (knee) were spending the bulk of their 2013 seasons on the injured reserve list in Foxboro, Easley was spending most of his time sidelined in Florida with the second major knee injury of his college career.

All of this at a position where the team recently had a 23-year-old player, who couldn’t get on the field in more than a year here, pack it in and walk away from the game.

A Canadian Football League import, Armond Armstead had been named to that league’s all-star team after registering a team-leading six sacks with the Toronto Argonauts in 2012, but after signing with the Patriots in 2013 he endured a lost season when he was placed on the non-football illness list before the start of training camp last year with an infection.

When Armstead failed to set foot on the field during the team’s offseason camps this year, the plot thickened.

And if the Patriots have questions surrounding players coming off injuries (and, in the cases of the 32-year-old Wilfork and the 33-year-old Kelly, battling age) on the inside of their defensive line, they’re dealing with a lack of depth on the outside.

Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich aren’t bad for starters, but beyond them the Patriots’ backups last season consisted of an underachiever (2012 third-round draft pick Jake Bequette hasn’t made a play in limited time in his two years here and the end for him may be near) and an unknown (2013 seventh-round choice Michael Buchanan).

That prompted the Patriots’ “play it again” routine with the 34-year-old Andre Carter, whom they summoned for the second time around (he was here in 2011) in late October.

Carter hasn’t been invited back for a third stint in New England, but he’s always just a speed dial away.

During the offseason the Patriots did add former New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith, a move Jones (“I’m excited to have him as a teammate”) heartily endorsed.

If nothing else, Smith is another who should fit right in because yes, he arrives with injury – and age – issues of his own. The 33-year-old missed all of 2013 with a knee injury of his own.

Page 2 of 2 - It’s little wonder that over the course of the 2013 season opponents were able to take advantage of a defense that was gutted – in addition to Wilfork and Kelly, linebacker Jerod Mayo and his 100 tackles per year were also lost along the way – as evidenced by the fact that only Atlanta and Chicago were worse than the Patriots (134.1 yards per game) when it came to defending the run.

After allowing 116.4 yards per game through five games, the Patriots surrendered 142.1 per game in the 11 in which the combined 635 pounds of Wilfork and Kelly were missing.

If there was a bright side to Wilfork and Kelly going down, it provided the next men up – youngsters Chris Jones, Sealver Siliga and Joe Vellano – with experience that could be invaluable going forward.

A rookie retread – he was waived by both Houston and Tampa Bay – Chris Jones was the biggest contributor of the three, finishing ninth on the team in tackles with 56 and third on the squad in sacks (to Chandler Jones’ 11.5 and Ninkovich’s eight) with six.

Signed as a rookie free agent out of Maryland, Vellano finished 10th on the team in tackles with 48.

After stops in San Francisco, Denver and Seattle, Siliga, was signed to the Patriots’ practice squad in October, promoted to the active roster in November and developed into a late-season and postseason starter who finished sixth on the team in tackles in the playoffs with eight in two games.

In end Zach Moore, the line does include a potentially intriguing prospect.

A sixth-round pick this year, Moore (6-foot-6, 285) amassed 33 sacks in 39 games at Concordia-St. Paul and represents the first player from that school to ever be drafted. Moore must be viewed as a project, however. Just how his talent translates in going from the Division 2 level in college to the pros (and if time is on his side and the team is willing to practice patience with him) remains to be seen.